CHINA BANS NORTH KOREA TOURISM ONE DAY BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES

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one day before President Donald Trump arrives in China as a part of his Asian tour, u. S. Has banned tourism to North Korea, hitting one of the hermetic nation’s few dependable sales streams.

Tour agencies working in the Chinese metropolis of Dandong, which borders North Korea, have been instructed by means of the Dandong Tourism Bureau to halt journeys to Pyongyang beforehand of Trump’s visit to China. They will simplest be allowed to offer one-day excursions of Sinuiju, a smaller town proper throughout the broader.

The order became “very sudden” and “devastating information,” one Chinese tour operator advised Reuters. Dandong is domestic to a maximum of the excursion operators providing trips to North Korea, with some lasting for days.

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As the United Nations during the last yr has ratcheted up sanctions on North Korea, the use testing nuclear weapons and perilous the U.S. Has misplaced forex from its exports like coal, seafood, and textiles due to sanctions.

Tourism generates approximately $44 million in sales according to 12 months for North Korea and 80 percent of all overseas site visitors are from China, according to the South Korea-based totally think tank the Korea Maritime Institute. More than 237,000 Chinese traveled to North Korea in 2012, the remaining yr that China tracked the traveler statistics.

The U.S. Banned travel to North Korea this summer after the demise of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-vintage University of Virginia student who was saved in captivity for more than a year and died soon after arriving again inside the U.S. In a coma. He had entered North Korea through the China-based totally Young Pioneer Tours organization.

North Korea’s nuclear missile assessments and threats can be the centerpiece of a debate while Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday. The U.S. Has asked China and different nearby countries to step up pressure on Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry in a CNN interview aired Monday said that Trump’s meetings with leaders in Asia are “extraordinarily crucial.”

“I desire the president can locate that different international locations are coming together now with positive thoughts about a way to maximize the pressure, get to the desk, have an extreme dialogue that (addresses) North Korea’s worries about aggression, approximately regime change, about the existential threat that they feel,” Kerry said.

Why you should cross: It’s an unspoiled spiritual retreat. Mount Kumgang and the surrounding area function superb natural splendor, a famous Zen monastery, and tough trails for trekking lovers. Nearby Kuryong Falls plunges 242 toes before crashing into a series of lagoons under. A pavilion lets in a clean viewing of the falls, and mountain paths take vacationers greater than 5,000 toes up for a lovely panoramic view of the surrounding valleys and the white-sand beaches of the Korean coastline. Enjoy the latter whilst you could, as electric and barbed-wire fences make get admission to to those beaches alternatively tough.

Why you cannot: Because it is nearly not possible. Americans can collect visas for North Korea, but the only get right of entry to points are thru China and South Korea. Tony Poe, a travel agent primarily based in Little Rock, Arkansas, says that despite the fact that the North Korean regime has all started to allow U.S. Excursion companies entry, “you are basically below quarantine” the whole time. American vacationers (of which there were fewer than 500 since the Korean War led to 1953) are typically restrained to Pyongyang and the surrounding areas, with Kumgangsan essentially off limits. Straying too ways from the tour organization is precisely forbidden, and the nonexistent U.S. Embassy and Consulate are not going to be of many assists in case you get into a problem with the Stalinist regime’s notorious secret police.

Baracoa
Location: Cuba’s jap tip

Why you have to cross: Baracoa is Cuba’s oldest settlement, based in 1511 via Spanish conquistadors, and is assumed to be near in which Christopher Columbus first landed in 1492. Important archaeological websites dot the area, and nearby caves provide traffic an opportunity to view pictographs and ceramic stays of Native American tribes that inhabited the island while Europeans first arrived. Large forts, constructed in the 18th century to repel pirate assaults, provide breathtaking views of the bay and surrounding forests. The vicinity is also full of sandy beaches, lush vegetation, and waterfalls, not to mention a wholesome array of musical, artistic, and cultural happenings.

Why you cannot: Because it’s miles impossible. For a bunch of reasons – some of that have the last name Castro – U.S. Traveller journey to Cuba is very well confined. Even journey to Cuba via 3rd united states of America, such as Mexico or Canada, is technically unlawful, and violators can face prosecution and a hefty first-rate of as much as $ sixty-five,000 upon go back to the United States. So, despite the fact that the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is placed inside the identical province as Baracoa, American vacationers who run into problems probable might not discover much sympathy.

Mogadishu’s Beaches

Location: Somalia’s east coast

Why you need to go: The seashores that separate Mogadishu from the Indian Ocean ranks many of the most stunning stretches of sand inside the world, say a number of the only a few Western vacationers whoever mission there. Coral reefs teeming with fish are without problems handy from the shore (although vacationers pursuing aquatic leisure must go away all valuables at domestic in case their boat is hijacked via pirates). Back in Mogadishu, visitors can locate actually anything in the metropolis’s outdoor markets-except peace of mind. A 2004 Economist article mentioned that hand grenade cross for a mere $10, and different popular gadgets encompass antiaircraft guns and mortars.

Why you can not: Because an excellent day in Somalia is the worst day of your existence nearly anywhere else. The consistent state of anarchy, lawlessness, and piracy is typically sufficient to deter most parents from traveling to Somalia, the arena’s 1/3 most failed country, in step with the 2007 Failed States Index. Michael Sailor of intrepid tour agency Abercrombie & Kent possibly puts it pleasant whilst he says that Somalia is “now not precisely a pinnacle-of-mind popularity for a journey vacation spot.” The U.S. Authorities does not hold any consular presence in Mogadishu, so an American in a problem is in all likelihood to stay there. Most troubling is the fact that with little identified, governing authority in Somalia, in reality identifying which of the apparently limitless string of warlords and criminals has simply kidnapped you is an essential first step in negotiating your release. Still, the water is lovely.